I am working with Jeffrey Phillips, a long-term collaborator on “all things concerning innovation.” We have just had our third short conversation of a five-part series on Innovation Governance.
This specific conversation is all about the fit of innovation governance within our Executive Innovation Work Mat. This is the link on Innovation Governance to the conversation, just under 14 minutes to listen to. Hope it gives a different set of insights to this area of innovation alignment.
If you would like to listen to the two previous conversations then these are here in the links that take you to youtube.com The first was setting the scene for these conversations on the “fundamental building blocks for innovation success” (LINK) and then the second into “the essential alignment of innovation to strategy” (LINK).
I have written supporting posts to these conversations, more to flesh out a number of different pointers to add more value and awareness of the importance of having a clear integrated solution for innovation in the solution we offer, the Executive Innovation Work Mat.
Link to the first post “Getting back to the future about innovation”
Link to the second post “Innovation linkages to Strategy is vitally important”
This builds out conversations Jeffrey and I are having on a series of discussions around the value and necessary alignment through the Executive Innovation Work Mat that we feel offers a good solution as the dialoguing and assessing framework for innovation to have a more comprehensive approach.
Listening in to the conversation on Governance
The link to this third conversation is here, it is about 14 minutes and looks at one of the most important aspects of why innovation governance
Often innovation governance gets caught up in the (life-threatening) aspects of governance’s need to have reporting, metrics, reporting and accountability dominating. For me, that often the heavier structure and process needs can, over time, take over and dominate. That can so often drain energy and life out of the creative needs of innovation, it becomes more “rote and uninspiring”. Innovation should never be dull or lack fuel for the inquiring mind.
Jeffrey and I believe we need to get the “lighter touches” into Governance that reflect what innovation needs to be. A Governance environment is not heavily regulated but encouraged and given the freedom to explore but aligned in achieving innovation that relates to the organization’s needs and vision.
I want to attempt to answer three critical questions here to add more value to the need for Innovation Governance
- Why we should focus on Innovation Governance?
- What can a good Governance model resolve?
- What should a Governance frame (?) deal with?
Why we should focus on Innovation Governance?
The conversation Jeffrey and I had was basically around this first question and most of our discussion covers this. I encourage you to go and spend that valuable 14 minutes listening to this. Here I am adding to our thoughts and exchanges.
Governance for innovation needs to recognize its unique positioning.
-Innovation is about risk– if it is not dealing in riskier ideas or concepts then you are unlikely to be undertaking innovation, that builds and drives towards new growth and impact potential or reinvigorating the business.
-You always face many unknowns and uncertainties within innovation as it is about discovery, exploration and figuring out something that is different and exciting as it builds on what we have got or know.
-Often our innovation activity is hard to defend, as it is often entering uncharted territory or we lack “hard” quantifiable data to seek more money, additional resources and justify it. In any prototyping or learning stage we can move knowledge understanding along but to keep believing and pushing is simply hard. Having those rules of the road or guiding principles really helps.
-Any governance design needs to be clean, robust, open and transparent, not opaque and closed to a selected few as this opens up to criticism, cynicism or favouritism. Good governance is seen and valued.
-Governance always has guidelines and measurements, I would argue these need to be sensible and adaptive, not just restrictive and prescriptive. Having flexible, realistic measurements might sometimes “open the door” for different interpretations but pushing the “famous envelope” brings out the greater potential for compelling innovation.
-Lastly here, organizations have “given mindsets” for quantifying returns and you can’t avoid two aspects that need a deeper clarification of what they mean to innovation. ROI dominates, Time dictates. Innovation spans different time and returns horizons and these need clarification and being fluid within any Innovation Governance and how these will be handled. Look for fewer justified exceptions, build more common approaches into approaching innovation across different horizons, through emerging, evolving practice and growing acceptance.
What can a good Governance Model resolve?
Let me provide a list here to trigger what it needs to recognize and attempt to resolve
- Resolves conflicts that constantly come upon innovation
- Allocation clarification of resources
- Be the warning point of change- be that in scope, markets, delays or changes.
- The meeting point for ambition- the organizations understanding “flows” through this Governance function
- The central place that alerts and informs a focal point and required passing through point for everything around innovation
- Has and provides a clear line of sight
- Being the point that constantly positions innovation- bringing it to ALL stakeholders and parties for awareness, status and knowledge.
What should a good Governance function deal with?
For brevity sake let me keep to a list. It is not a definitive one but provides the important aspects of its function
- It is at the centre of funding and managing the risk portfolio
- It shapes the scope and success, it fills out vision and ambition
- It establishes targets and priorities
- It clarifies the time frame approaches needed or recognized
- It offers flexible, realistic measurement settings to give clear coordination, and clarity to innovation activities often over a diverse environment of different innovation needs
- It encourages agility, adapting, being fluid and dynamic in the way to undergo innovation
- It provides good reporting that conveys innovations importance and impact
- Constantly establishes a set of evaluation metrics that reflect different challenges, stages and maturity of what innovation is providing
- A resource centre that can call upon, build and enhance capabilities, capacity and competencies that can be deployed or identified as needed.
- A primary role is to stimulate, not dictate and take or encourage action, it needs to orchestrate and lead.
- It offers project empowerment, leveraging and steering ideas, concepts and ambition.
Being bold, ambitious and determined to build the best Innovation Governance is worth the effort.
Having a comprehensive framework to help top management develop the overarching values, policies and initiatives needed for a corporate innovation need, so as to always build out innovation governance. It is a place that reflects, defends and pushes the innovation activity.
I do recommend a really excellent book, brought out in 2014 that provides a really detailed look at Innovation Governance. It is called “Innovation Governance: How Top Management Organizes and Mobilizes for Innovation” written by Jean-Philippe Deschamps & Beebe Nelson. Jean-Philippe Deschamps is emeritus Professor of Technology and Innovation Management at IMD in Lausanne (Switzerland) and a large part of his work focuses his research, teaching and consulting activities on the management and governance of innovation.
I wrote a post some time back on “The role of Governance needed in Innovation”I feel it adds to this post here.
Governance of innovation in a comprehensive manner, that is well-designed is essential for innovation today. This functions as the nerve centre for innovation to thrive, contribute and have its rightful place within the core of any organization.
We are in a more complex and demanding world being faced in our organizations and the ability to have a clear, dynamic innovation governance reflects where innovation sits within the business on managing their innovation activities.